Improved apparatus for evaporating cane-juice



theta sata l Nsubnet @Ww L. s. HEREFORD, OF-vvEsT BATON ROUGE PARISH,Locust/WA.l

Lette/rs Patent No. 94,959, dated September 2l, 1869.

F .IMPRovnDAPPARATUs FOR VAPORATING CANE-JUICE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To .all whom it ma/y concern.-

lie' it known that 1 L. S. HEREFORD, ofthe parishl of West .Baton Rouge,State of Louisiana, have in and'thus to reducethe cost of evaporation;to reduce the number of boilers that are employed to effect evap orationto two, andthusto reduce the cost of what is known as a set, whichusually embraces iiv'e boilers;

to provide means for conveying allforeign matters that. l rise tothesurface of the juice while it is boiling, into a suitablerecipent',with little or no skimming; to attach said recipient tothe boilers insuch manner as to make it practically a part of the organism of whichthey (the boilers) constitute -the principal part, and to provide meansfor taking the sirup which escapes with the foreign matters `into therecipient out of the same, and putting it back into the boilersgwithoutthe use of a ladle, or the likeusual appliance that is employedfor suchpurpose; to provide for au extension of the tire-smface beyond thatwhich is presented by the external'surfaces of the,

boilers, and for regulating the draught fromthe furnace, `so as toprevent the application of a destructive Adegree of heat, and allconsequent injury to the sugar.

My invention :consists of the combination, under a particulararrangement, of two semicircu ar, open-top boilers, in each of whichthere are at least two re- `tlues, sufficientlylarge to allow of thefree and rapid passagerof the heat and llame from the furnace through ithem, that are severally provided with a damper, to

regulate the draught, .and thus prevent the development of enough heatto burn'the saccharine that is contained in the juice at anystage oftheevaporation, a transverse refiise-recipient, for collecting the lforeignmatters that are brought to the surface by the boiling ofthe juice, andthe action ofthe lime that has been placed therein, from which twopipes, that are provided with stopecocks and perforated diaphragms, leadinto the boilers, one into each, to serve as conduits for the juice orsirup which passes out of the boilers withthe foreign matters, back`again into the saine, and two troughs, to convey the foreign mattersinto the recipient therefor, which are placed at the top outside edge ofeach boiler respectively.

But my invention will be better and more quickly understood by referringto the drawing, on which- A A represent my boilers, and

B B' B B, the tire-fines, that are placed longitudinal-ly therein.

It will be observed that the boilers present crossvsections, that arevery nearly semicircular 'up to the point to which their externalsurfaces are exposed to 'the fire, which is indicated clearly at iigT 3by the lines Al 2 3, `but that above that point the sides present acurvature, having a longer radius, so that'the crosslsections of thewhole ot' each boiler present elliptical conformations,rather than truesemicircles. ject accomplished by giving the boilers this form is thegreatest possible .measure oi' tire-surfacel .underneath the same, and agreater containing capacity than would be possessed by them if they wereexactly semicircular.

rlhe lines, it will be seen, extend the wholelength of the-boilers,andare sufficiently large to offer noap- Vpreciable impediment to thefree and rapid rush of the flame and heat through them, and to extendthe re- `'surface to about double what it would be, Yii' entirelyconfined to the external surfaces of the boilers, coilnecting with theopen space of the furnace, at the rear-ends of the boilers, the lineslead ,at the front ends thereof into a breeching, C, techically 'socalled,

which, in its turn, .leads into the stack or chimney, which carries offthe products of combustion.y

` vAt the front of the breeching', an opening', D, is

made in front of the flues of each boiler, which are covered by hingeddainpers E, as shown at the left-hand boiler at iig. 2. i

The dampers E are provided with bars Fthat are attached to and projectabove them, to serve as handles to operate' or move them ,into anydesired position. These bars F are Weighted at their upper ends, so asto overbalance the weight ofthe damper's, when the latter are placed inhorizontal position, as shown at the right-hand boiler at iig. 2. Thisposition coinpletely shuts oif the draught, for the space between thedamper-s, on the line 4, iig. 2, is closed by a plate in the breeching,against which the damper impinges,

when placed therein, and cuts'of communication bep tween the iiues ofthe boiler, at the front of which it is placed, and the chimney orsmoke-stack. If. the hinges of the dainpers are so made as to work with.some degree of stiffness, they will themselves hold the dampers in anygiven intermediate position between that shown at the right-hand boilerand that which it occupies at vthe left-hand boiler at iig. 2; but if jthe hinges work too loosely'to do this, any ordinary appliance ormeans'may be employed to accomplish the object. y

On each upper outside 'edge of the two boilers, a

trough, G, is' provided, that extends from the front ends of saidboilers, afew inches beyond their rear ex tremities, as shown ali-iig.1, where their open ends occupy a position over the recipient H, so asto insure the tlowin g into .the latter of whatever gets into them of aliquid nature.

The recipient H is placed in direct contact with the boilers, at theirrear ends, and in such manner that its bottom shall occupy a horizontalplane, that is coincident, or very nearly so, with a line that crossesthe boilers at the top of the fines, as shown at figs. 2 and 3. The sizeof the recipient H shouldbe sulicient to enable it tc'hold all theforeign matters expelled from the juice during the process ofevaporation, with such portion of the juice itself, as may pass out ofthe boil# ers with the same. To convey this juice back into the boilers,I insert thelshort pipes 5 6 into the recipient, in which I introduceperforated diaphragms, if necessary to strain the juice,and fixstop-cocks, so as to be able to open or close the said pipes atpleasure.

A pipe, 7, at one end of the recipient, affords ameans for drawing offthe foreign matters, or, as they are called yby sugar-makers, theskimmings The front plates ofthe boilers, the outsides of the troughs GG, and the rear side of the recipient H, all rising several inches abovethe boilers, and being,r connected at the four corners c c c" c',constitute a rim, which prevents the juice' from boiling overexternally, while the ledge d, projecting upwardly between the boilersto-the same height as the outer rim, prevents one boiler from boilingover into the other.

My boilers, and everything about them, are made of sheet or plate-iron,of proper thickness, and in such and composes but a portion of a singleorganism, as shown 0n the drawing.

' Any suitable furnace, made of brick, and constructed upon any approvedplan, may be used in connection with my invention. Y

I do not restrict myself to thc use. of any furnace,

ship, but hold myself at liberty to use any I may see fitto employ. Nordo I restrict myself to any specific length or diameter in making myboilers, but they should never be so extended vin length as to make itdiicult to force the iiame from the grate or ire-bed to their rear ends,at which point there should always be sutiicient space in the furnace toallow of the easy deflection ofthe said flame into the fines.' Towithdraw the sirup from the boilers, pipes 8 are employed, which pareprovided with 'stop-cocks, to close them when not in use.

Having thus described my invention,

NVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The twoelongated semi-cylindrical or elliptical boilers A, when providedwith ilues B B B" B, and the dampers E, in` combination with the troughsG and the recipient H, when the latter is provided with the pipes 5, 6,and 7,in which are 4placed stop-cocks, and all the parts areconstructed, arranged, and operate substantially as described, for thepurpose set forth.

L. S. HEREFORD. Witnesses Gnonen MoRRow, H. N. JENKINS.

manner that every part is connected with the others, I

provided, always, I invade no private right or owner-

